I Love you my dad

Wednesday, 28 May 2014

In
year 1890, Dr. Nikola Tesla single handedly developed the concept of
Alternating Currents; he modified it to give rise to more efficient high
frequency alternating currents and then discovered the phenomenon of
Wireless Electricity and all this as Dr. Tesla always claimed were in
perfect harmony with Mother Nature.

We
also know that to defame Dr. Nikola Tesla’s AC system of current,
Edison performed things like public electrocutions of the animals. With
this Dr. Tesla mainly became upset by the fact that the AC powered
electric chair was being used to electrocute prisoners to death. Dr.
Tesla being a spiritual person and a highly compassionate individual,
his heart reached out to the plight of these prisoners as well as
animals who were subjected to this inhuman torture. Dr. Tesla decided to
take steps to counter this disinformation being spread by Thomas
Edison.

He
called for a press conference with the help of George Westinghouse and
invited some of the prominent scientists business leaders and the press
at his own lab to demonstrate the actual nature of Alternating Current.
There he created a setup having AC Generators generating upto 1,00,000
volts of electricity. To demonstrate that AC system if properly
controlled, is not harmful to human beings, Dr. Tesla sat next to the
generator that was actually generating 1,00,000 volts of electricity. He
did this at the risk of his own life for the benefit of people, sake of
humanity and to quell all the rumours surrounding AC Current.He emerged
from it totally unharmed, there was not a single scratch on his body,
this left all the spectators flabbergasted, and people were awestruck to
see this. Remember, Edison passed AC electricity through animals and
prisoners whereas Dr. Tesla passed electricity through his own body.

Dr. Tesla demonstrating WIRELESS ELECTRICITY

This is also the first time Dr. Tesla demonstrated WIRELESS ELECTRICITYto
the public. Yes, you heard it right!! “Wireless Electricity” that is
‘electricity without wires’, and in doing so, he lit fluorescent bulbs
and tubes while holding them in his own hands. How did he achieve this?
To know how Tesla invented this, we must go back a little to know about
the experiments that he performed in his own lab at New York. Dr.
Tesla’s laboratory in New York was a multi-level research and production
facility in itself. It had several sections, multiple floors and multi
level galleries. We can imagine it like a minuscule research and
development mall. Dr. Tesla created several transformers and generators
in the lower floors, and had his private research laboratory on the
upper floors. He also had a staff of a few technicians. Mr. Kolman Czito
was one of them and a trusted friend of Dr. Tesla who stood by him for
the remainder of his life.

Here,
we must note that Dr. Nikola Tesla was extremely hard working person.
He built this huge lab all by himself from the funding he received from
George Westinghouse. During his experimentation and research whenever he
used to discover something intriguing, he used to immediately pursue it
by experimental study and with hundreds of permutations and
combinations. This kind of study and research gave him enormous
knowledge and he was able to formulate new inventions and acquire new
patents. This is how he constantly improvised his own inventions and
researches.

Dr.
Nikola Tesla had developed a more efficient and superior working
polyphase AC system that could supply electricity at great distances.
But Tesla did not stop there. He continued his research and made
consistent efforts to discover a more efficient kind of polyphase AC
system, and in doing so, Dr. Tesla started increasing the frequency of
his AC generators. With his extensive research he increased the AC
frequency upto 30,000 Hz (cycles per second), This gave birth to Higher
Frequency Alternating Current. Dr. Tesla believed that such high
frequency alternating currents would supply power to the entire world.
He built and patented several remarkable generators supplying higher
frequency alternating current.

The
most remarkable fact about high frequency currents which was discovered
by Dr. Tesla is that they were ‘completely harmless’ even when it comes
directly in contact with the human body. Even if a human accidentally
touches the live current, due to its high frequency, the current would
simply pass from the outer surface of the human body, without doing
slightest of the damage. In scientific terms this property of current at
high frequency is known as Skin effect.This is the
reason why Dr. Tesla could demonstrate that the AC system is completely
harmless for humans. During his presentation, he touched the live
current carrying electrodes with his bare hands and still people could
see nothing happening to Dr. Tesla. While dealing with high frequency
alternating currents, safety of all the people had alwaysbeen one of the
main concerns of Dr. Tesla.

While
carrying out a series of experiments on high frequency AC in his lab,
Dr. Tesla observed a strange phenomenon which altered his view of
electricity forever. During one of his experiments, he took a thin metal
wire and applied high voltage AC current closing the electrical circuit
in an instant. This sudden application of current vapourized the wire.
As he increased the input voltage, Dr. Tesla felt a powerful impact like
a blast of needles penetrating his entire body. He first thought that
these might be tiny shrapnel from the exploding wire. Tesla rubbed his
arms, face and even chest to see if there was any actual damage or
penetrations, but there were no signs of such injuries to his body.

Further
to this, Dr. Tesla added a thick sheet of glass between him and the
experimental setup, also added copper electrodes and stood at a distance
of 10 feet, but still the needle like stinging effect was observed as
soon as the circuit was completed / closed. Hence he modified his
experiment several times with lot of variations, but still the stinging
effect was present. This was result of application
of electric current at high frequency for a short interval of time i.e.
impulse. This was the birth of the concept of wireless electricity. Dr.
Tesla, on the basis of these observations, concluded that the circuit
being completed instantly caused an impulse of current to travel through
the air – i.e. travel wirelessly and hit his body.

All
the further work of Dr. Tesla was based on the principles of impulses,
frequencies and resonance, all of which we will see in the coming series
of articles.

In
our next article we are going to see how Dr. Tesla modified this
concept of current travelling through air and created the actual working
model of Wireless electricity.

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

To witness the ‘War of Currents’ was indeed a most shocking experience for all of us. It brought forth the true nature of Thomas Alva Edison who has been idolised across the world for his scientific discoveries and genius. Edison opposed Dr. Nikola Tesla tooth and nail and yet lost to him without Dr. Tesla doing anything either actively or passively to counter him. Dr. Tesla’s nature and his faith in god is apparent from this instance as he did not get involved in an ego struggle but rather carried on his own work quietly and quelled all resistance through the means of his discoveries and his science. Now let us move to the point from where we left off last time. After resigning from Edison Machine Works, Dr. Nikola Tesla went on to form his own company namely, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing in 1886 at New Jersey.

Tesla Arc Lights in New York

The first and the most well-known invention of Dr. Nikola Tesla working at Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing was “Arc Light”. The Arc Lights that Tesla invented were highly efficient and were designed very elegantly in a stylized manner. This Illumination systems of these Arc Lights were installed during those times on the streets of New York. Tesla’s company earned good revenue but it was pocketed mainly by all the investors. The other patents that Tesla received while at Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing ones for Dynamo Electric Machines. At Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing, Nikola Tesla had a plan to launch equipment powered by his Alternating Current system. But investors disagreed with Dr. Tesla’s plan and as a result Dr. Tesla was forced out of the company with few meagre stock certificates at his disposal. These happenings paradoxically did happen even though Nikola Tesla was the one who had founded the company.

This left Nikola Tesla nearly penniless. But Dr. Tesla always had a big heart. Dr. Tesla never considered any job, including manual labour to be of inferior grade and this, supported him during this precarious phase of his life. Dr. Tesla worked as a ditch digger. But Dr. Nikola Tesla had a tendency to always bounce back from the worst possible conditions. This was only due to his firm unshakable faith in God. We can also conclude that this was the prime reason why God also never let him down. Dr. Nikola Tesla has exemplified this quality on number of other occasions as well and this situation was no exception to it.

Dr. Tesla working as a ditch digger

In April 1887, Dr. Nikola Tesla started with a new company named ‘Tesla Electric Company’. Tesla had found this company with the financial backing of New York attorney Charles Peck and director of Western Union, Alfred Brown. Tesla’s primary aim behind floating this company was to work further-on and propagate his alternating current system and devices powered by it. Accordingly a laboratory was created for Dr. Tesla by the Company at Manhattan to carry on with his work. Here in the year 1887, Dr. Tesla constructed a brushless alternating current induction motor, based on a rotating magnetic field principle which we have already seen. Nikola Tesla also received a patent for this brushless AC induction motor of his in the year 1888.

In the same year the editor of Electrical World magazine, Thomas Martin who was a friend of Dr. Nikola Tesla arranged for him to demonstrate his alternating current system, including his induction motor, at the gathering of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) which is now famously known across the world as IEEE i.e. the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The demonstrations startled just everyone who was present. During the demonstration, Dr. Tesla also showed superiority of AC system over DC and clearly demonstrated the advantages of AC system over DC.

This gathering was attended by the who’s who of industry and science; the demonstration hall was filled with researchers, physicists, engineers, technologists, business leaders and media personnel. During this gathering Dr. Tesla proposed his AC system to produce electricity and optimize it for supply of power to factories, industries, transport systems, households, etc. Also, it was here that Dr. Tesla envisioned his AC system that would in-turn lead to new discoveries and would revolutionize life on our planet. Though extremely impressed, the business leaders who were present at the gathering asked for guaranties of successful implementation of Dr. Tesla’s AC system if adopted. The meeting was also attended by a visionary business magnet, George Westinghouse who then headed the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. Not only was Westinghouse keen to secure the viable AC motor and power system of Nikola Tesla but he was also extremely impressed by this demonstration in front of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers that reflected Nikola Tesla’s belief in himself and his confidence that he had on his technologies and science.

Dr. Nikola Tesla- George Westinghouse

After the end of this gathering, George Westinghouse approached Dr. Nikola Tesla and invited him for a dinner at Waldorf Hotel. It was here that the relationship between Dr. Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse was stitched together. During this meeting Westinghouse proposed to buy all of Dr. Tesla’s patents of AC system for a million dollars. Westinghouse also promised Dr. Tesla, freedom to decide how his technologies behind these patents would be used at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. Finally the meeting ended with Westinghouse promising Tesla to pay one dollar for every horsepower of electricity produced and distributed by his plants that would be run on Dr. Tesla’s AC systems. In the coming days, Westinghouse also hired Nikola Tesla as a consultant at their Pittsburgh lab. During his time at Pittsburgh Tesla created an alternating current system to power streetcars. Yes by streetcars I mean electric cars. It is worth noting that the concept of fully evolved electric car running of roads is yet to happen in this world. But here we see this genius, Dr. Nikola Tesla, way back in the late 1880s’ building a detailed and an evolved AC current system to power streetcars.

Further in 1891, at the age of 35, Nikola Tesla was given citizenship of the United States of America which he valued a lot. The same year, another laboratory was created under Dr. Nikola Tesla at South Fifth Avenue and later another one at Houston Street both in New York. Here he lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of these laboratories, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Yes, WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION also knows as ‘Tesla Effect’. Doesn’t it sound amazing and astonishing? Also remember the fact that we are talking about the year “1891”.

What we have seen of Dr. Nikola Tesla so far were very generic and basic inventions of his. And yes, your guess is right!!! Very soon we are going to enter the world of inventions of Dr. Nikola Tesla that though seem ethereal and supernatural but are yet totally and perfectly logical and scientific, and have spiritual basis as all of the inventions of Dr. Nikola Tesla.

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Last week we have seen how Thomas Edison became extremely upset after seeing his business empire under threat if ideas of Nikola Tesla ever came into existence. With this, though Edison dismissed Tesla’s idea of Alternating Current and ridiculed him yet, Edison at the back of his mind became sure that Nikola Tesla is a genius who could rather help his business empire grow, if employed. Though Edison did not understand the concept of alternating current and rotating magnets, he noted one thing that Tesla is remarkably genius person, and he decided to ‘use genius Tesla’ for empowering his own business. Hence rather than creating an adversary, Edison recruited Nikola Tesla as a subordinate and paid him a mediocre stipend. It was believed that Edison’s company was miser when it came to paying its employees.

Thomas Edison & Dr. Nikola Tesla

So from 1884, Nikola Tesla started working for Edison Machine Works. Initially Tesla was given simple tasks of electrical engineering but within no time he was assigned to solve some of the most complex problems that the company faced. Though Tesla had opposed Edison’s DC system during his interview, yet unlike Edison, Tesla did not blindly rule out the other option. Tesla did not discard DC system totally but with his own creativity and thinking, even harnessed DC system to the best of its abilities.

Here I would like to clarify a misconception. There are few texts and references that mention that it was Thomas Edison who invented Direct Current form of electricity. But contrary to this it was actually Michael Faraday who invented electric motor in the year 1821 and used the Direnct Current for the first time though without mentioning the name as ‘Direct Current’. Edison actually had only adopted the DC power in his power systems to deliver electricity to distances. DC power generation was in use much before Thomas Edison.

Thomas Edison showing electric bulb

Thomas Edison had just shown the electric light bulb to the world and needed a system to distribute electricity to houses of his customers when Nikola Tesla was recruited with him. Yet the DC system that was designed by engineers of Edison reportedly had many flaws and error. Even at Edison Machine Works, Nikola Tesla was very much revered for his genius. Accordingly he was asked to redesign Edison’s direct current generators. With this Edison even offered Tesla fifty thousand dollars if he succeeded with the assignment. Within just two months but with lots of hard work Tesla succeeded with the redesign. As a result of this Edison Machine Works actually ended up saving lakhs of dollars which as per today’s standards would convert to billions. Thus it means that the corrected DC system that Edison used in his company was also designed by none other than Dr. Nikola Tesla.

With this achievement accomplished, Nikola Tesla enquired about his reward with Edison. But to his utter surprise and anguish, Thomas Edison did not keep his word and rather claimed that he was just joking. He made mockery of Tesla saying that ‘Serbian’ Tesla could not understand the so called ‘American humor’. Instead of the promised fifty thousand dollars, Edison offered a paltry rise in payment to Tesla. Hence weighing dignity over acceptance to this breach of trust Tesla quit Edison’s job. From this moment Edison took to feud with Tesla and spent the rest of his life trying to discredit Nikola Tesla and his inventions.

This was the flashpoint that made Thomas Edison a swore opponent of Dr. Nikola Tesla. Edison did everything he could to malign Dr. Nikola Tesla and prove his inventions to be dangerous for humans or atleast useless. This sequence of events in which Edison tried every trick of trade to destroy Tesla is famously known as ‘War of Currents’.

After resigning from Edison, Tesla went on to create his own company Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. After closure of this venture, Nikola Tesla formed Tesla Electric Company. (We would be seeing about these two ventures of Dr. Nikola Tesla in our next article). Finally Tesla joined Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company under George Westinghouse, who was also a respected figure in power industry during those days. With Tesla, Westinghouse migrated its systems from DC power to AC power.

Fearing loss of his business empire if AC power was to take shape, Edison carried out various disinformation and misinformation campaigns to condemn AC power and discourage its use. To do this he went to worst and most inhumane levels. Initially Edison started to spread false news about accidents being caused due to use of AC power. He also used his political weight and money power to lobby against the use of AC power system in various state legislatures and professionals’ clubs and bodies.

Edison did not stop here, he also organized public displays in which he himself electrocuted (killed) various animals by giving them electric current shocks in a very innatural and brutal manner. These included stray cats, dogs, cattle and horses. Not just this, on 4th of January 1903, Edison even publicly electrocuted a circus elephant using AC power. Not contended with this heinous act and the satisfaction derived from it, Edison even went on to film this execution and publish the footage as a movie under the title ‘Electrocuting an Elephant’ in 1903. With all these and specifically the elephant execution, Edison tried to prove to the masses that if AC power can kill an elephant it certainly is fatal for the people and especially for their kids. Thus by playing with public emotions Edison indeed had succeeded to a certain degree to scare the masses off from using the AC power.

William Kemmler being executed using Electric Chair

He even specifically appointed two of his engineers to carry on with these public display and campaigns of spreading fear. One of these two namely Harold Brown, invented an electric chair. Like always Edison got this invention on his name which was his usual practice for all the inventions that were created by his subordinates. This invention was adopted and used by prisons across the United States to execute prisoners on death row. Edison purposefully ordered Brown to use AC power driven technology for electric chair as this would manifold the fear in the minds of the people and would make them refrain from using AC power. Edison even started calling electrocuting as Westinghousing as Westinghouse was the main proponent of Nikola Tesla’s AC power technology. It instantly became publicly known slang for the death penalty administered by electrocution with the use of electric chair. The first electric chair was built for the New York State prisons and its first use was for electrocuting a prisoner named William Kemmler who was to be condemned to death. When the chair was actually used for Kemmler it left him half burnt rather than finishing him off peacefully as it was actually intended to be. This procedure had to be repeated few more times to finally kill Kemmler. This whole event was specifically orchestrated in presence of media for the news to spread in public. Reporters who witnessed this cruel and barbaric execution went on to describe it to be far worse than hanging. It is worth mentioning and noting that this merciless and cold-blooded method of execution is still commonly in practice throughout the United States of America which is also the only country to practice this till today.

While you read this article on your computers, laptops, mobile devices, etc. remember that you are able to do so just because your houses, offices and establishments are powered by Alternating Current. Thus it clearly proves that eventually time always sides with the truth. Even after carrying out so many disinformation campaigns and conspiracies it was Dr. Nikola Tesla and his Alternating Current that emerged victorious in the ‘War of Currents’. It is also worth noting that though Thomas Edison tried all the dirty tricks yet, Dr. Nikola Tesla neither ever uttered any word against Edison and his activities nor did he participate in any kind of mudslinging in this battle and yet emerged victorious.

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

In today’s hustle bustle of life, it is quite common to hear people saying that they do not find enough time to have a proper breakfast…..it is in such situations that most people make do with bread, which forms an integral part of their breakfast. In fact, many people cannot just imagine breakfast without bread. Having said that, today there are still many households that have a variety of options for breakfast.

Ambil

However, Bapu has a standard breakfast menu. Bapu’s breakfast always comprises of Aambil or Idlis; that too idlis made out of udad dal and rice. Some households have a tradition of preparing idlis made only out of rice; but, as far as possible, Bapu avoids eating such idlis. However, Bapu makes it a point to have Aambil everyday for breakfast. Today’s younger generation may not even be aware as to what Aambil is, because I have barely come across people who have eaten Aambil. Made out of rice, easy to make, with minimal cost, Aambil is known to be very nutritious for the body.

Today, with Bapu’s guidance, all of us at home have Aambil for breakfast. Two small bowl-full of Aambil are quite sufficient for one person. If we have Aambil for breakfast then our intake of other items of breakfast reduces significantly, thereby automatically regulating our calorie intake. Aambil is very good for satiating our hunger and has a cooling effect on the stomach.

For everybody’s benefit I am giving below Nandai’s recipe for making Aambil

AAMBIL RICE

Ambil Recipe

Ingredients:

Parimal Rice – 1 bowl

Sugar – 1 spoon

Buttermilk made from Curd – 5 bowls

Water – 7 bowls

Salt – to suit taste

Process:

Firstly, empty the bowl of Parimal rice into a vessel – Rinse the rice with water 3 times – thereafter pour 7 bowls of water into the vessel – use the same bowl for measuring rice as well as water – thereby, the proportion will be maintained – thereafter place the vessel in the pressure cooker and wait upto 3 whistles

Ambil-Recipe

Thereafter remove the vessel with the cooked rice from the pressure cooker and keep it outside. The cooked rice so removed will have some residue of water. Pour the same into a mixer and stop after approximately five seconds from the time of starting it.

Ambil-Recipe

Pour the mixture back into the vessel. Thereafter add 1 spoonful of sugar and add salt to taste. After adding both sugar and salt, mix it well. After you have mixed it well, add 5 bowls of buttermilk and mix it well yet again. Thereafter taste the mixture and add salt if required. Thereafter, cover the vessel and keep it through the night – do not put it in the refrigerator.

Ambil-Recipe

It takes between 12-14 hours for Aambil to be ready to eat; which means that if you prepare Aambil at 8.00 pm and keep it through the night, it will be ready for eating at 10.00 am the next day.

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

There is a famous saying, “Arrogance is not strength. Arrogance is just another mask for fear”. This is the one of the important conclusions that we would draw today at the end of this article.

I am sure you all would have heard of Alternating Current (AC). In alternating current, the flow of electric charge periodically reverses its direction. In comparison to that, the Direct Current (DC), the flow of electric charge is only in one direction. The simplest examples of use of AC in our daily lives are; the electricity that is delivered to our homes. Recently we have also heard news of some sections of Indian Railways migrating from DC system to AC system for running of trains. This changeover was especially implemented for an over-crowded network of Mumbai which needs to have optimized transport system to carry its 7.5 million plus rail commuters daily.

Three-phase AC system with rotating magnetic fields

It was Dr. Nikola Tesla in the year 1882, who produced the best known system for delivery of Alternating Current and explained how it could be implemented with commercial viability. It is quite interesting to learn how the idea of Alternating Current occurred to Dr. Nikola Tesla. Dr. Tesla used to say that all his inventions appeared to him in his visions. The concept of AC current motor came to him during one such of his visions. It was year 1882 when Nikola Tesla was in Budapest. One afternoon Nikola was enjoying a walk with one of his friend in the city park and reciting poetry. At that age young Nikola knew his all his books by heart, absolutely word to word. One of these was Goethe’s Faust. The sun was just setting down and that reminded Nikola of one of the glorious passage’s from this poem, “The glow retreats, done is the day of toil; It yonder hastes, new fields of life exploring; Ah, that no wing can lift me from the soil Upon its tract to follow, follow soaring!” Nikola uttered these inspiring words and the idea came like a flash of lightning in his mind. In an instant the truth was revealed to him. He thought of this to be act of the Almighty God. Nikola Tesla drew with a stick on the sand the diagram of alternating current system which he envisioned. The diagram was of a rotating magnetic field. Dr. Tesla explained and demonstrated working of the same diagram, six years later in his address before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The images were wonderfully sharp and clear and had the solidity of metal. While describing them Nikola Tesla said, “See my motor here; watch me reverse it”.

Through his vision Nikola Tesla had developed a polyphase (three phase) alternating current system of generators, motors and transformers consisting of an alternating current dynamo, step-up and step-down transformers and AC motor at the other end. Dr. Nikola Tesla held 40 basic US Patents on this system. Dr. Nikola Tesla introduced his motors and electrical systems in a paper titled, “A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers” which he delivered before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1888 which caught the eyes of all, the attendees, business community and even the press. Dr. Nikola Tesla had actually envisioned the Holy Trinity while designing his three-phase alternating current system.

Since 1888 the monumental AC system of electricity generation that Dr. Nikola Tesla has proposed is powering all homes, businesses and transport and is functional even till today in the very same form and specification. This invention of Dr. Nikola Tesla is what is considered as the real impetus to the Second Industrial Revolution that started in the 1860s and further led to inventions like factory electrification, mass production, production line, etc.

Dr. Nikola Tesla has more than 700 patents registered to his name and they have led to creations of hundreds of inventions with thousands of uses. Starting with the very first invention, that of AC power and with an almost unending list of similar inventions it is crystal clear the Dr. Nikola Tesla’s inventions are touching every second of our life and yet many of us had not even heard his name until Sadguru Aniruddha Bapu mentioned it during his discourse.

Now continuing from where we had left last week, we have seen how Dr. Nikola Tesla met Thomas Edison who he idolized. In their very first meeting Edison interviewed Tesla. At the time Thomas Edison was called as ‘King of Electricity’ throughout the world, as it was DC power from hundreds of power stations owned by Edison that were generating and powering the electrical instruments of those times, which were purposefully made to suit DC Power only.

AC polyphase system

During the interview with Edison, Nikola Tesla explained to him the principle of rotating magnetic field on which working of Tesla’s alternating current motor to generate electricity was based. It was surprising for Tesla to note that Edison could neither think nor understand using this principle to generate electricity. Tesla, while explaining to Edison about the propagation of DC over long distances, as compared to AC explained how Edison’s DC needs hundred power stations to power the New York City yet leaving its outskirts in dark. In comparison to this Nikola Tesla’s Alternating Current could accomplish this task with just one power station and yet transfer the power not just to New York City but actually to the entire New York State.

Nikola Telsa also explained that the DC system leads to wastage of power when transmitted over long distances which is not the case with AC system. Moreover Dr. Nikola Tesla’s AC Current system had step-up and step-down transformers which could be used to increase or decrease the voltage respectively, to thousands of times making this system all the more safer and extremely economically viable. Explaining further, Tesla claims that this wastage is like throwing the power given to us by the nature to winds. Tesla went ahead to state that the electric power in DC form is not only imperfect but unnatural as well. Tesla also calls it to be out of step with nature’s harmony. Nikola Tesla further tried to explain in detail to Edison how the changeover from DC to AC could be a giant step forward that could actually transform the whole world and benefit humanity.

Hearing this revolutionary idea, surprisingly, Thomas Edison got utterly upset. Edison could clearly see his power business in jeopardy if this idea of Nikola Tesla was ever to take shape. The very thought ruffled and vexed Edison to his limits. Fearful of this loss of his power empire, Edison dismissed Tesla’s idea then and there and ridiculed him, telling him that he was heading the wrong stream with this thing and that it’s a dead end.

Thus it is evident from the above extract that Nikola Tesla was a very upfront and righteous man who stood firmly by truth. With this as his basis, Dr. Nikola Tesla had the courage to frankly tell Thomas Edison that his power generation model was flawed and that Alternating Current which Nikola Tesla was proposing was far more advanced and viable in all respects. This courage indeed emanated from Tesla’s deep belief on his Almighty God and also the confidence that he had in his science and its understanding, as a result of which he could openly counter a so-called stalwart of his times without any hesitation. This indeed proves the saying “Arrogance is not strength. Arrogance is just another mask for fear” that we have seen at the start of this article. In the next article we are going to witness the clash of the electricity titans. (To be contd…)